So you all had very nice things to say about the great production quality of the Wicked Plants video my brother, an actual filmmaker, made. But today we’re slumming it in my backyard, where I am trying out the totally amazing Flip Mino HD I got for Christmas. I am so in love with this little camera that I am working on getting one for all four of us GardenRanters so that we can build our Internet video empire. These babies range in price from $130 to $230, are small enough to fit in the pocket of your jeans, and come with insanely easy-to-use editing software built right into the camera (which, by the way, has a built-in USB connection–no cords necessary).

OK, enough geek talk. Oh, except for this: if you’re in the market for one of these, go to YouTube and click ‘watch in high quality’ to get a better idea of what the uncompressed version looks like. Sorry the sound’s a little iffy–now that I’ve done one of these, I’ve figured out how far away I can get from the camera and still get good audio. The next one will be better.

12 responses to “GardenRant TV (Or, Look What I Got for Christmas!)”

Waaaah. I can’t watch videos with any satisfaction on my stupid Hughes satellite internet connection. National coverage high speed WiFi would be a great economic stimulus infrastructure project for those yahoos in Washington.

How great is that? Elodie, Eulalia, and Eloise (my EE’s) just started laying again. I’d been missing the blue and green eggs. Those three are skittish, but I’m thinking I’ll try to train Sophronia, a Barred Rock, or maybe Jerusha, a Faverolles. They already have the “whatever it takes” mentality when it comes to treats.

Oh Amy I LOVE my Flip recorder!!! Isn’t it simple to use? I got one last Fall when Amazon was encouraging people to start doing video reviews – they sent them out as freebies to a bunch of us reviewers.

I’ve been doing some pruning how-to videos with mine – trading time with a client – she records me, I do her pruning for free.

But how in the world do you get YouTube to play your videos without showing other videos you could choose to watch at the end? Is there a Premium account? I have a nursery owner who’d like to embed a couple pruning videos on his site but youtube shows some “related” video suggestions after which are not always family-friendly.

Thank you so much for showing us what the new model can do, and for showing us your delightful chickens!!!

I need to work on training mine – they’ve thus far been good at laying eggs, scratching up my veggie patch, and eating snails, two of which are very valuable tasks – but no tricks yet.

I say this as an avid consumer of online video: Please don’t over do it. There is a lot of bad video out there. And there are some things that are just more effectively communicated via words and/or pictures.

I can scan a blog post in about 10 seconds and determine if there’s something there worth reading. If I have to play a minute-and-a-half video to garner content and I’m disappointed more often than not, I’ll just stop playing them.

That said, I love well-produced video. And that — as you demonstrated, Amy, with your book promo — takes time, equipment and skills that most of us lack.

My chickens do similar tricks, including jumping onto my arm. My favorite though is a fairly simple one. They can be out foraging and will all come RUNNING when I call. It doesn’t matter where they are, they come speeding in. The largest, T. Boone Chickens, looks like a demented dinosaur, flapping his wings.